First Online: 26 June 2005Received: 04 November 2004Accepted: 26 June 2005

Abstract

BackgroundThalidomide is an inhibitor of tumour necrosis factor-alpha TNFα that has been proven effective for the treatment of experimental sepsis by Escherichia coli. It was tested whether it might behave as an effective immunomodulator in experimental sepsis by multidrug-resistant MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

MethodsSepsis was induced by the intraperitoneal injection of 1 × 10 cfu-kg inoculum of the test isolate in a total of 109 Wistar rats divided in three groups as follows: group A controls; group B administered seed oil 30 minutes before bacterial challenge; and group C administered 50 mg-kg of thalidomide diluted in seed oil 30 minutes before bacterial challenge. Blood was sampled for estimation of endotoxins LPS, TNFα, interferon-gamma IFNγ, nitric oxide NO and malondialdehyde MDA. LPS was measured by the QCL-1000 LAL assay, TNFα and IFNγ by ELISA, NO by a colorimetric assay and MDA by the thiobarbiturate assay.

ResultsMean ± SE survival of groups A, B and C were 18.60 ± 1.84, 12.60 ± 0.60 and 30.50 ± 6.62 hours p of comparisons A to C equal to 0.043 and B to C equal to 0.002. Decreased TNFα and NO levels were found in sera of animals of group C compared to group A. Plasma levels of LPS, MDA and IFNγ did not differ between groups.